CART II A(; K. 



507 







army 

 wasted by 



illco 

 urns to 

 thage. 



Expedition 



under 



Mago. 



can produce its examples of this ; and it may safely 



rrtcd, tli:U were it ii<>! f->. I ii LT! \x.<\> <l 61 

 of which \\-i- have auth'.-ntic account.-., w. 'i n! 



.t to what extent men an- capai.l of acting 

 Buffering. 



Tin- Carthaginians, undismayed by this inauspi- 

 cious bei'inning, maintained the war with their usual 

 energy. After several ait'.-rutions of good fortune, 

 both by sea and land, Ilimilco so far succeeded in 

 venng from the effects of the first blow receiv- 

 i -d in thr war, as to invent Syracuse with a large army. 

 He had already possessed himself of the suburb of 

 Acradina, and had suffered himself to be elated by 

 the warmest expectations of complete success; when 

 a pestilential fever, perhaps the most malignant re- 

 corded in history, broke out among his forces. In a 

 very short time it carried off not less than 150, OCX) 

 men. Dionysius, apprised of the miserable state to 

 which they were reduced, made a most vigorous sally, 

 *sed himself of the Carthaginian approaches, 

 and burned a great part of their fleet. Himilco, re- 

 duced to extremity, came to a private agreement with 

 Dionysius. For three hundred talents he obtained 

 permission to depart in the night to Africa, with all 

 the citi/.ens of Carthage. The miserable remains of 

 the confederate forces, with all their baggage and 

 stores of their camp, were abandoned to the con- 

 queror. (Diod. Sic. lib. xiv. ; Justin, lib. xix. c. 2.) 



Diodorus hns left us a most minute account of the 

 symptoms which accompanied this most horrible dis- 

 order. It is not easy to understand whether it was 

 communicated by infection from Africa, or whether 

 it was caused by any temporary and local circum- 

 stances ; probably by the latter, as the army was en- 

 camped in the midst of a swampy unwholesome coun- 

 tr) ; and it is mentioned, that the heats at the time, 

 when the pestilence broke out, were greater than had 

 ever been known. 



Carthage was overwhelmed with despair at the 

 news of this dreadful disaster. Himilco, with the 

 wretched companions of his misery, was received 

 every where with tears, and groans, and every ex- 

 pression of grief. Not being able to endure the bit- 

 terness of nis misfortunes, he determined not to 

 survive it. But the distresses of Carthage did 

 not stop here. Their African allies, enraged to 

 hear that their countrymen had been abandoned 

 to the mercy of the enemy, while the Cartha- 

 ginian citizens had returned to their homes, resolved 

 to revenge the injury. They collected an army of 

 200,000 men, with which they marched to Carthage. 

 The sudden impulse of feeling which had drawn them 

 together, happily for the Carthaginians quickly sub- 

 sided ; want of provisions produced discontent ; and 

 the whole force very soon melted away, without ef- 

 fecting any thing of importance. 



The Carthaginians still struggled to maintain their 

 footing in Sicily. Within two years they had assem- 

 bled another army, which they entrusted to the com- 

 mand of Mago. Dionysius drew him into a snare; 

 and the Carthaginians, reduced to extreme distress 

 from the want of supplies, were saved only by a se- 

 dition which arose in the Sicilian camp. A treaty 

 ensued precisely the same with the last, except that 

 the town of Taurominium was ceded to Diouysius. 



A peace of nine year* continuance followed ; v 

 was again broken by the restless ambition of Diony- 

 sius ; another sanguinary war succeeded, and after it, 

 as usual, a hollow mid suspicious peace. At length 

 death relieved the Carthaginians from this implacable 

 f ;>e. Dionysius was carried oft by the effect* of a 

 debauch. He was succeeded by hi on in the go- 

 vernment of Syracuse, (l)iuil. .S':. lib. xv.) 



Habitual indolence induced the younger Dionysiui 

 to maintain the peaee inviolable, so long as hi* influ- 

 ence continued ; but the Syracus:n being torn by 

 intestine commotions, the Carthaginians persuaded 

 theimelves that they had a good opportunity of ac- 

 complishing their favourite >bjct, the reduction of 

 the whole island. (Plut. in Vit. Timol. l)i>id. Sic.) 

 The Syracubans applied to Corintti tor asi-t 

 from which state they were supplied with a body of 

 troops under the command of the celebrated Timo- 

 leon. (B. C. 34-1.) It would be some relief to the 

 mind, weaned with contemplating this unvarying te- 

 ries of cruelty and perfidy, if it could dwt ll tor a 

 short time on the character of thu illustrious pcri>ou ; 

 but the limits of this work forbid it. 



Timoleon, though opposed by a superior force, 

 made good his landing in Sicily, at Taurominium. 

 Andromachus, the father of Timaeus the celebrated 

 historian of Sicily, then possessed that doubtful sort 

 of authority at Taurominium, which the ancjcnt his- 

 torians describe under the general name of a tyranny; 

 by which they, for the most part, intend to signify 

 an ascendency in the public affairs, obtained and pre- 

 served only by the weight of talents and personal 

 character, which controuled the laws, while it affect- 

 ed to act in subserviency to them. In the common- 

 wealth of Greece, instances of this sort of authority 

 are continually occurring. It supplies an unanswer- 

 able argument against the theories of the speculative 

 republican, when we find the democracies of Greece, 

 each in its turn, yielding to this kind of authority ; 

 and Rome, in every period of hazard and public calami- 

 ty, compelled to have recoun-e to the necessary but pe- 

 rilous authority of a dictator. The nature of this ty- 

 ranny seems to have depended on the personal cha- 

 racter of him who possessed it. Nothing could have 

 been more hateful than the authority which Diony- 

 sius exercised, whilst the sway of Andromachus, in 

 his city Taurominium, seems to have been most gen- 

 tle, and most salutary. He governed, says Plutarch, 

 (>jysT9) with justice, and according to law. The 

 Carthaginians threatened Andromachus with their 

 vengeance, unless he dismissed Timoleon from his 

 territories. (Plut. in I'it. Timol.) Plutarch has 

 preserved the form of the menace, which is so strik- 

 ing, and so characteristic of those oriental manners, 

 with which the Carthaginians were still imbued, that 

 it should not be passed over. The messenger stretch- 

 ed out his hand with the palm upward, and then 

 turned it over, implying that Taurominium t hould be 

 treated in the same manner. Andromachus appears 

 to have estimated the menace as it deserved : he 

 steadily adhered to the party which he had esp .used ; 

 and thus gave occasion to that rapid and glorious 

 career which places Timoleon amongst the most ce- 

 lebrated commanders of antiquity. Dismayed by the 



.lidity of Timoleon'e first movements, the Cartha- 



4- 



Carthage, 



Peace with 



DtOUJTMU*. 



Hi, death. 



B. C. 34J. 



Expedition 

 of Timo- 

 leon into 

 mily. 



raj 



